Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned “an escalation of attacks” against the Justice Department in a speech to employees on Thursday, pushing back against “conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods” and “threats of actual violence” that he said endanger the department’s workforce heading into the election.
Billed as an address about the department’s norms, the attorney general praised the efforts of federal prosecutors and investigators and stressed the independence of the Justice Department in remarks at the department’s headquarters in Washington.
“Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics,” Garland said.
Garland’s comments came as the presidential election entered its final stretch, nearly four years after the tumultuous presidential transition marred by the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The public servants of the Department of Justice do not bend to politics,” the attorney general said. “We will fiercely protect the independence of this department from political interference in our criminal investigations.”
The Justice Department has weathered heavy criticism from Republicans and Democrats for its handling of various politically sensitive probes in recent years, including investigations into former President Donald Trump, President Biden and the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
Trump was charged in two cases by special counsel Jack Smith — one for alleged conduct tied to his efforts to remain in power after he lost the 2020 election, and another now-dismissed case brought for alleged mishandling of classified information. He and his allies have accused the government of “weaponizing” the Justice Department against them.
Another special counsel, Robert Hur, investigated President Biden after classified documents from his time as vice president were found in his private residence and personal office. Hur opted not to charge the president and notably characterized Mr. Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” a description that prompted an outcry from some Democrats. And Hunter Biden pleaded guilty last week to numerous counts of tax fraud filed by a third special counsel, David Weiss.
Because of the political nature of the probes, Garland elevated all three men to special counsel roles and has said they have operated independently. Still, they’ve faced setbacks.
One roadblock came in July, when the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that afforded former presidents — including Trump — immunity from prosecution for “official acts” taken while in office. The case was brought by Trump as a challenge to Smith’s election-related indictment against the former president.
Some of the alleged conduct the high court ruled to be out of bounds for federal prosecutors involved Trump’s interactions with Justice Department officials in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
“We will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon,” Garland said Thursday.
There has been an increase in threats against Justice Department employees and other law enforcement officials, members of Congress and their staff in recent years. In June, the attorney general highlighted in congressional testimony “a worrying spike in threats of violence against those who serve the public.”
“Those threats have targeted members of Congress, police officers, judges, jurors, election workers and the Justice Department’s own employees,” he said then.
The attorney general highlighted these threats again Thursday, against the backdrop of a tight presidential race and a fraught political landscape.
“It is dangerous to target and intimidate individual employees of this department simply for doing their jobs,” Garland told the workforce. “It is outrageous that you have to face these unfounded attacks because you are doing what is right and upholding the rule of law … You deserve better.”
Garland’s tenure as attorney general began in the wake of the Capitol breach and pressure from the Trump White House for the Justice Department to get involved in the 2020 presidential election. In his address on Thursday, he said he “came back to DOJ as attorney general believing that our norms are some of the most powerful tools we have to ensure our adherence to the rule of law.”
“Having now served as attorney general for the past three and a half years, I continue to believe deeply that our norms matter, now more than ever, to our department and to our democracy,” Garland added. “Protecting the rule of law is the obligation of every generation of public servants at the United States Department of Justice. In this time and place, that responsibility is yours, and it is mine.”